Galium palustre L.

Common marsh bedstraw (en), Gaillet palustre (fr), Gaillet des marais (fr)

Species

Angiosperms > Gentianales > Rubiaceae > Galium

Characteristics

Perennial, usually drying dark brown or black; stems slender, weak and straggling, to c. 60 cm long, glabrous, or scabridulous on the acute angles. Lvs and stipules in whorls of 4-(6), subsessile or with short petiole to c. 1 mm long, 3-15 × 0.7-4.5 mm, linear, narrow-elliptic or oblanceolate, generally glabrous; margins flat, sometimes scabridulous; apex usually obtuse, sometimes subacute. Lvs of uppermost nodes often smaller. Cymes small, loose, glabrous or nearly so, often 2-5 from same axis, each with c. 3-7 fls, usually aggregated into panicles of up to 20 fls; peduncles very variable in length, to c. 2 cm long; pedicels up to 3 mm long, divaricating at fruiting; bracts leaflike at base of infl., either very reduced or 0 toward apex. Corolla 2-3-(3.5) mm diam., white; lobes ovate or ovate-oblong, acute or mucronulate. Mericarps 0.8-1.2 mm diam., globular, ± papillate.
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Perennial; stems slender, 2–6 dm, minutely and sparsely retrorse-scabrous on the angles, not bearded; lvs in whorls of 2–6, linear to narrowly oblanceolate, 5–15 mm, blunt, antrorsely ± scabrous on the margins; infls many-fld, repeatedly forked, the short slender pedicels mostly ascending at anthesis, widely spreading or somewhat reflexed in fr; cor white, acutely 4-lobed, 4 mm wide; fr smooth, 2 mm; 2n=24, 48. Wet soil; Nf. and Que. to Conn. and N.J., and also in Europe. June–Aug.
Life form perennial
Growth form herb
Growth support -
Foliage retention -
Sexuality hermaphrodite
Pollination entomogamy
Spread hydrochory
Mature width (meter) -
Mature height (meter) 0.3 - 0.7
Root system -
Rooting depth (meter) -
Root diameter (meter) -
Flower color
Blooming months
JanFebMar
AprMayJun
JulAugSep
OctNovDec
Fruit color -
Fruiting months -
Nitrogen fixer -
Photosynthetic pathway c3

Environment

Light -
Soil humidity -
Soil texture -
Soil acidity -
Soil nutriment -
Hardiness (USDA) 4-9

Usage

Uses medicinal
Edible -
Therapeutic use Tumor (unspecified)
Human toxicity -
Animal toxicity -

Cultivation

Mode -
Germination duration (days) -
Germination temperacture (C°) -
Germination luminosity -
Germination treatment -
Minimum temperature (C°) -
Optimum temperature (C°) -
Size -
Vigor -
Productivity -

Images

Habit

Galium palustre habit picture by Maria Le Nallio (cc-by-sa)
Galium palustre habit picture by Pierre LEON (cc-by-sa)
Galium palustre habit picture by Lucia Orsega (cc-by-sa)

Leaf

Galium palustre leaf picture by Mariusz Staniszewski (cc-by-sa)
Galium palustre leaf picture by philip beef (cc-by-sa)
Galium palustre leaf picture by Peter Derrick (cc-by-sa)

Flower

Galium palustre flower picture by Jean-Marie Frenoux (cc-by-sa)
Galium palustre flower picture by Laurence Tran (cc-by-sa)
Galium palustre flower picture by hans wolfgang gierlichs (cc-by-sa)

Fruit

Galium palustre fruit picture by Llandrich anna (cc-by-sa)
Galium palustre fruit picture by Jacques Maréchal (cc-by-sa)
Galium palustre fruit picture by Kilien de Chateauvieux (cc-by-sa)

Distribution

Galium palustre world distribution map, present in Albania, Austria, Bulgaria, Belarus, Canada, Switzerland, Czech Republic, Germany, Denmark, Algeria, Spain, Finland, France, Micronesia (Federated States of), Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Iceland, Italy, Kazakhstan, Morocco, Malaysia, Netherlands, Norway, New Zealand, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Russian Federation, Sweden, Turks and Caicos Islands, Turkmenistan, Ukraine, and United States of America

Conservation status

Galium palustre threat status: Least Concern

Identifiers

LSID urn:lsid:ipni.org:names:750370-1
WFO ID wfo-0000969740
COL ID 3F682
BDTFX ID 29132
INPN ID 99494
Wikipedia (EN) Link
Wikipedia (FR) Link

Synonyms

Galium palustre f. submersum Galium tetraploideum Galium diffusum Galium fontinale Galium glomeratum Galium vayredae Galium witheringii Galium montanum Galium incarnatum Galium rumelicum Galium rupicola Galium masferreri Rubia palustris Galium palustre var. majus Galium palustre var. maximum Galium palustre var. balticum Galium palustre var. brachyphyllum Galium palustre var. morisianum Galium palustre var. rupicola Galium palustre subsp. tetraploideum Galium palustre var. umbrosum Galium palustre var. witheringii Galium palustre var. humifusum Galium palustre